To be in honors is to be engaged in many different economic arrangements and exchanges. Honors educators work in concert with their admissions offices while recruiting high-achieving students whose decisions often hinge on how much money the institution can offer in the form of discounts to tuition and financial aid. Honors programs that tie…

The Supreme Court has granted review for the 2012 term in the case "Fisher v. University of Texas." Abigail Fisher, a rejected white applicant to the University of Texas, has challenged the use of racial and ethnic admission preferences, which the Court had allowed in its 2003 decision involving the University of Michigan law school,…

At many universities and colleges across this nation there is an annual commemoration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and his vision of "a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character." At these ceremonies, it is common for various campus leaders and administrators to vow renewed…

In 2003, two cases came before the Supreme Court that presented the stiffest challenge to affirmative action in decades. A White applicant to the University of Michigan's law school sued the school, claiming that she had been rejected on the basis of her race. Similarly, two White applicants to the University of Michigan's undergraduate school…

In developing countries, higher education is a powerful instrument for social mobility and economic prosperity. An in-depth study of the relationship between higher education and certain equity issues has revealed that in Ghana and Tanzania there is inadequate effort to widen higher education participation to include traditionally disadvantaged…

At the heart of the discussion in this special issue on race and affirmative action is the issue of whether race should be used as a category in admissions policies of South African universities. In my contribution I shall argue that there are no races. By race I mean the idea that skin colour (or other phenotypical features) associated with…

The author's school is a founding member of the Association of College Counselors in Independent Schools, which includes all sorts of institutions--some in highly affluent communities, others with vastly more socioeconomically diverse populations, and some with strong percentages of international students. Individual members' approaches to…

In this article, two professors retake the college-entrance exam and arrive at very different conclusions about its performance. Even though Christopher Harper has worked as a college professor for 15 years, he decided last winter to take the SAT and ACT examinations that his students needed to enter the institution where he teaches, Temple…

The compelling essays in this issue of the journal take on the often contentious and complex issue of racial affirmative action. I do not wish to repeat the arguments authors offer either in defence or against student admissions to a university on the grounds of race, (dis)advantage, class, gender, and so on. Rather, I wish to respond to a…

This article argues for the importance of broad and on-going research to support initial or pre-service teacher education program admissions. Examples from a large initial teacher education program at one Canadian university illustrate the contributions of research to the evaluation and refinement of admission processes. These examples include…

This article points out that, in the United Kingdom, parents have a right to state a preference for a particular school which is not the same as a right to choose. (Contains 1 note.)

It might seem axiomatic that the character of a university's academic experience would be reflected in the character of its admissions processes. Unfortunately, it is not--at least, not in the world of continuing and adult education. Universities that offer rich academic programs, high-quality student/faculty relationships, and top-quality…

With the success of graduates directly influencing the college's reputation and ranking, leadership propensity should be an important selection criterion in higher education institution's undergraduate admissions processes, but is it? For most colleges and universities, selection is done through a paper application containing only a sliver of the…

A controversial theory much in the news lately claims that affirmative action is often unfair to the very students it is intended to help. Called the "mismatch" theory, it suggests that underrepresented minority students are more likely to leave science, math, and engineering when, because of affirmative action, they attend colleges for which they…

Since its inception in Texas a baker's dozen years ago, educators look forward with every new legislative session to another round of discussion about the "top 10 percent rule," which guarantees admission to the state's public universities for these talented high school graduates. Originally passed as a way to increase enrollment of…